(Photo: You never know where life will take you. Credit: Devyn Caldwell.)

The new Huffington Post Chicago page debuts today.  And guess which Windy City carless blogger has got a byline there?

Last month, Huffington Post’s Chicago editor asked me to be a part of the widely read political news and blogging site’s local debut by joining their invitation-only stable of bloggers.  Instead of yes, I believe my answer was, “How high?”

In June, Ariana Huffington, the “progressive populist” co-founder of her namesake website, announced HuffPo was going to compete with local media in cities across the country by rolling out local sites with a robust mix of regional content including community and business news, sports, and the arts.

The Huffington Post Chicago page kicking off today is the first of what is planned to be “dozens” of locally branded pages, each following HuffPo’s national model of offering aggregated news feeds and original content from reporters and bloggers.

I’m thrilled to be one of those bloggers.  Starting today, you can find more of my words under my Huffington Post byline, where I’ll concentrate on larger issues important to Windy Citizens.  I invite you to come on over, say hi, and look around a bit.

The ongoing journal of my unending love affair with Chicago will, of course, remain right here where it belongs, in the put-your-feet-up, popcorn-worthy virtual pages of CHICAGO CARLESS.

On a deeper note, lately I’ve felt a bit overwhelmed at the renewed attention my blog has received since this summer’s overhaul. I’ve always known I’ve had an audience.  Lately I’ve come to realize, despite what I might want to believe, this blog’s growing web traffic is not due to visits from Google indexing robots and people stealing my images to use as their MySpace avatars.

Instead, CARLESS is developing a real community of readers, and a far-flung one, at that (if recent mail from California, Texas, and Ireland is any indication).  In September 2006, when this blog single-handedly launched me into a new career as a communications strategist, I similarly wondered whether I was prepared for the ride.

Back then, I penned Fear of Falling to express how I felt about the newfound wonder of my journey. It remains the most personally meaningful essay I’ve ever written in these pages and I encourage you to read it.  It sums up the confusion I sometimes feel about putting my words–and my heart–in front of you on a regular basis.

Two years later, I think it’s finally time to let myself acknowledge the fact that I know what I’m doing here. As it turns out, I’m a damned good blogger. To those of you who enjoy my words, I am grateful. It’s a pleasure to write them.

And an honor to know you find meaning in them.

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